Last night, Slumdog Millionaire made its mark, winning a truckload of Oscars. In my opinion, the best speech of the night was the final one, when producer Christian Colson said this about his little underdog of a movie (from Mahalo):

Thank you so much to the Academy. As you can see, our film was a collaboration between hundreds of people, and I am so happy that so many of them could be with us here tonight to share this moment. Together we've been on an extraordinary, extraordinary journey. When we started out, we had no stars, we had no power or muscle. We didn't have enough money really to do what we wanted to do. But what we had was a script that has inspired mad love in everyone who read it. We had a genius, for a director. We had a cast and crew who were unwavering in their commitment and whose talents are up on the screen for all of you to see. We had partners in Film4 and Celador. In Path and FOX Searchlight, who had the courage to support us. We had a shared love for the extraordinary city of Mumbai, where we made the movie. Most of all we had passion and we had belief and out film showed that if you have those two things, truly anything is possible. I want to thank on a personal note, my mum and my dad for their support over the years... And I want to thank all of you very much indeed. Thank you. (emphasis mine)

What does this mean for the entrepreneur? It means that you can get there, if you've got a good plan (a script), some smart leadership (director), a talented and committed team (cast and crew) and support (partners). And, passion and belief also play a big role.

I think that many times, entrepreneurs claim they just need the money. And while money can get you many of the things listed above, every once in a while, the stars align and fate smiles upon you, and your will and determination push you over that hump.

And, in any market, a quality product that inspires people will always win out over the machine, no matter how well funded it might be. After all, passion is truly priceless.

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